The heatmap and bar chart showed that the Collect applications task performed as expected, but at 15 days, it could be optimized. The analysis also revealed that the interview stages were slowing down the hiring process, contributing to a long time-to-hire and preventing candidates from progressing through to the final stages.
To address this, we’ll optimize the process by shortening the processing times for collecting applications and all three interview tasks. These changes aim to reduce overall task durations, help interviewers to stay focused and enable the process to move forward more efficiently.
We’ll start by adjusting the processing times to significantly reduce the time spent collecting applications and the time candidates spend in the interview stages of the process. The goal is to create a more realistic hiring timeline where candidates can actually move through to the decision points within the five-month simulation window.
In the hiring process template, update the baseline processing times for these tasks using the optimized parameters shown here:
| Task | Baseline parameters in days | Optimized parameters in days |
|---|---|---|
| Collect applications | 15 | 5 |
| Shortlist candidates | Truncated normal (6, 10, 2, 10) | Truncated normal (3, 5, 2, 5) |
| Conduct first interview | Truncated normal (15, 10, 5, 30) | Truncated normal (5, 5, 2, 7) |
| Conduct technical interview | Truncated normal (15, 10, 10, 20) | Truncated normal (5, 5, 3, 10) |
| Head of department interview | Truncated normal (20, 10, 15, 30) | Truncated normal (7, 5, 5, 10) |
With the optimized parameters in place, we’ll rerun the simulation and compare the results against the baseline. This will help us determine whether the adjustments improve process efficiency and increase the chances of candidates reaching the final stage.
We’ll use the same run parameters as before, but give the simulation a new name to distinguish it from the baseline run.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Simulation name | Hiring process (with simulation) - optimized |
| Duration format | Select Short format. |
| Duration value | Set to 5 months. |
| Start date | Set to 20/01/2025 08:00 |